Antitrust Laws

PROPOSAL FOR CHANGE. The Reagan administration, declaring that American business needs greater flexibility to compete in global markets, sent Congress legislation Wednesday that would rewrite portions of antitrust laws that have been on the books more than 70 years. Attorney General Edwin Meese said the proposals would ''greatly benefit American industries, American workers and American consumers.'' The foundation of U.S. antitrust law is the Sherman Act of 1890 and the Clayton Act of 1914.

Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff is taking the next step in his fight against college football’s Bowl Championship Series. On Wednesday, Shurtleff posted a listing for a legal team to help look into the BCS in regards to an antitrust violations. “There are serious antitrust violations in the BCS system that are robbing taxpayers of hundreds of millions of dollars," Shurtleff said in a statement. "Putting together the strongest legal team from around the country will give us the best chance of bringing equity back to college football.

The owners who control what no longer is the national pastime are about to get acquainted with what still is a national premise: Unchecked power will be abused, and so must be prevented. A controlling cabal of owners has abused such power, so Congress probably will repeal one prop of their domination, baseball's exemption from antitrust laws.By actions first dilatory and then provocative, the owners engineered a strike by the players. Because of the exemption, the players had no other recourse for defense of their hard-won right to sell their services to the highest bidder.

The Department of Justice has requested a meeting with officials from the Bowl Championship Series. According to Bill Hancock, Executive Director of the BCS, staff attorneys for the Department of Justice Antitrust Division contacted him requesting a 'voluntary background briefing on how the BCS operates.' Hancock said that he plans on meeting with the group sometime this summer however no specific date has been set. "The BCS was carefully...

WASHINGTON - The government, responding to a federal judge's findings in a landmark antitrust lawsuit, Monday called Microsoft Corp. a ``classical example'' of a rogue monopolist that should be punished under antitrust laws.At the same time, however, Justice Department prosecutors continued to meet with the software giant's legal team in Chicago in an all-out drive to settle the case.U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson found Nov.5 that Microsoft had abused its monopoly power, causing harm to consumers, competitors and other companies.

By mid-June, Staples Inc. and Delray Beach-based Office Depot Inc. will find out whether a federal judge will block their proposed $4 billion merger because it violates antitrust laws.U.S. District Judge Thomas Hogan said Monday he will decide on the Federal Trade Commission's bid to block the transaction after a five-day evidentiary hearing set to start May 19. The judge said he would hear arguments from lawyers June 5 and then rule within two weeks.This is less than what either side wanted.

In a clear victory for management over labor, a federal judge ruled Monday that the NBA salary cap, its college draft and restricted free agency do not violate federal antitrust laws, clearing the path for a summer of business as usual.The ruling by U.S. District Judge Kevin Duffy of New York also lifted the temporary injunction that had prevented any new league contracts from being signed. The judge chastised both sides, though, telling them that these issues should be settled with collective bargaining and not litigation.

HOUSE HEARINGS. Rep. Peter Rodino Jr., D-N.J., chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, charged Wednesday that failure toenforce antitrust laws fully is a key factor in a recent rise in hostile corporate takeover attempts. Call: Rodino asked for restraints on ''corporate raiders,'' saying members of his committee long had been concerned about ''the relaxation of the merger enforcement standards of the antitrust laws.'' Said Rodino: ''Experts have advised us that this relaxation is a major contributing factor to the unprecedented rise in merger and takeover activity.

Around the NBA Monday, players were surprised, management and ownership were relieved, and agents were ready to resume work.The league's salary cap, college draft and restricted free agency were ruled legal Monday by a New York federal judge who told both labor and management to settle their own problems without clogging up the overworked court system.The NBA Players Association was hoping that all three practices would be declared illegal under federal antitrust laws.''I'm a little surprised at the ruling,'' said Magic forward Jeff Turner, the team's former player representative.

THE JUSTICE Department, brushing aside objections from Japan, announced Friday it will extend the reach of U.S. antitrust laws to Japanese and other foreign cartels that lock out U.S. exports. Under the controversial shift in its enforcement policy, the department will move immediately to challenge foreign business practices that harm U.S. exports if such conduct would be illegal in the United States.

After another questionable officiating call in a Southeastern Conference game involving one of the league's two best teams, SEC Commissioner Mike Slive said there is no conspiracy to keep the top teams in position to play for the national championship. "Those claims have gotten to a place where they don't make any sense," Slive said during a speech at the Clinton School of Public Service in Little Rock, Ark. "First of all, I think we have very, very good officiating. I think anyone in this business will tell you they are as good as anyone else there is," he said.

NFL training camps and college two-a-days are going hot and heavy, with talk already of some highly anticipated showdowns in the coming season. But a couple big-time football matchups won't be on the field, but rather the court. In court, that is. A series of lawsuits could have lasting ramifications on sports as we know it, with the one closest to home possibly reaching even further. More than two dozen state media organizations, including the Sentinel, are suing for access to the NCAA's records concerning Florida State's appeal of sanctions for the cheating scandal in its athletic program.

The indignation was as obvious as a telegraphed play during another wasted Congressional hearing on the Bowl Championship Series. Sen. Orrin Hatch was indignant that the BCS violates antitrust laws. Nebraska Chancellor Harvey Perlman was indignant the BCS is the best and only possible system for college football. University of Utah President Michael Young was indignant his school is part of a permanent underclass. What Tuesday's Congressional hearing on the BCS really needed was a wrestling ring in the center of the room, folding chairs and all three men dressed in masks and tights, ready to clothesline, head butt and scissor kick each other.

Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) reinforced his position that the BCS violates federal antitrust laws after a Senate Antitrust Subcommittee hearing Tuesday in which he heard from two university presidents and two lawyers. "I'm having some troubles with the BCS approach," he said at the end of the hearing. "There's an arrogance I see that shouldn't be there. I believe there are real antitrust issues here that aren't going to be solved unless the folks at BCS work to resolve these matters." What comes next remains uncertain.

UCF scored some local football recruiting points Sunday, landing oral commitments from two players who made the Sentinel's All-Central Florida team. Dr. Phillips defensive end Victor Gray (6-4, 235 pounds) and Clermont East Ridge defensive tackle Frankie Davis (6-4/280) boost UCF's commitment total to 20. The other area commit to the Knights is Edgewater DB Henry Wright. Gray said he shook George O'Leary's hand and promised the UCF coach he is done taking visits to colleges. He had also taken official visits to Ole Miss and Colorado State.

By Stacey Hirsh and Robert Little, Business Reporters, November 2, 2002

A federal judge Friday handed what antitrust experts and consumer-advocacy groups said was a clear victory for Microsoft Corp., making few changes to a proposed settlement between the software giant and the federal and state governments that charged it with violating antitrust laws. U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly tweaked dates and other parts of the proposed settlement but did not adopt broad modifications or impose tougher limitations wanted by the nine states that did not settle with Microsoft.

Statewide law firm Akerman Senterfitt P.A. has started pulling together the new Antitrust and Trade Regulation Group. Before hiring Keith Rounsaville, Akerman attorneys who worked with antitrust cases were an unorganized bunch. Now the firm has earmarked 13 lawyers statewide to form the antitrust team and Rounsaville, based in Orlando, overlooks the group. "The rapid growth of Florida's population and its economy make it a logical base in which to build an antitrust and trade regulation practice," said Rounsaville, 56. "You can't do business internationally without being aware of the antitrust laws."

THOSE PEOPLE who dislike the antitrust-law ruling against Microsoft should read about the origin of the laws. Without the antitrust laws, we would be ruled by a number of superrich people. Labor unions would have been abolished. The vast majority of people would be earning a very low wage (by current standards). The news media and the government would be controlled by these rich people. The person who should be most grateful for these laws is Bill Gates, himself. He couldn't have achieved the kind of success he enjoys under a monopolistic system.